Ceiling Cling: Difference between revisions

[[File:River_ceiling2River ceiling2.jpg|link=Firefly (TV)|frame|Ceiling River is watching you.]]

{{quote|''Nobody ever looks back''<br />

''Nobody ever looks up''<br />

''Like some odd human code''|'''Dahlia Seed''', "Elevator Syndrome"}}

{{quote|"Love it when they don't look up."|'''Kim Possible''', ''[[Kim Possible]]''}}

A character avoids pursuit or detection by hanging from the ceiling of the room or hallway. Thankfully, the upper reaches of the room have structures (walls, pipes, crossbeams, etc...) that are close enough for the hero to grab onto, even if they have to hold themselves up through sheer friction.

This is frequently used in elevators, where a character hides from the enemy by flattening themselves against the ceiling. Perhaps the enemies all shoot at the lift, riddling it with bulletholes; then when the doors open, the character drops down and attacks. Maybe the doors open and the enemies enter the apparently empty lift, allowing the character to drop down and attack. Or, the character [[Decoy Hiding Place|looks like he's going to be caught]], the enemy opens the door, [[It's Probably Nothing|sees nothing and leaves]] -- and—and then the camera pans up to show the character hidden on the ceiling.

See also: [[Acrophobic Bird]], [[One -Dimensional Thinking]], [[Object Ceiling Cling]], [[He Was Right There All Along]]. Frequently used in conjunction with [[Fakeout Escape]].

* Claire Stanfield of ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano!]]'' does this from time to time. Of course, he doesn't do it to hide so much as [[Ax Crazy|he enjoys delivering surprise death from above]], so the victim looking up usually isn't an issue.

* Silver managed to do this at the start of the G/S/C arc of ''[[Pokémon Special (Manga)|Pokémon Special]]'', using a pair of flourescent lights as supports.

** One of the missing Kecleon in the ''[[Pokémon (Animeanime)|Pokémon]]'' anime episode "The Kecleon Caper".

* In ''[[Akazukin Chacha]]'', it's revealed that the pink ninja Orin [[He Was Right There All Along|was there all along]] in class even though never shown in the first season -- havingseason—having been clinging to the ceiling the whole time.

* [[Lupin III]] does this to dodge both Zenigata and avoid a [[Trap Door]] in ''[[The CastleofCastle Cagliostroof (Anime)Cagliostro|The Castleof Cagliostro]]''.

{{quote| '''Spider-Man:''' You know you're not supposed to look up until a second after I'm gone, right?}}

* Lampshaded in the ''[[[The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers|Fat Freddy's Cat]]'' comic "Animal Camp" <ref>My last hope, the "ceiling cling".</ref>

** ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 2''. WoodyBuzz clingshangs toonto the underside of aan boxelevator to avoidreach beingthe foundfloor where Al's byapartment Sidis.

* In [[The Movie]] of ''[[Matilda (Filmfilm)|Matilda]]'', Matilda clings to the underside of a table this way.

* In the 2007 ''[[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]]'' [[The Movie|movie]], one of the ''giant robots'' escapes pursuit this way, clinging to the underside of a bridge.

* Used by the burglars in the third ''[[Home Alone]]'' film.{{Context}}

* ''[[Goldfinger (Film)|Goldfinger]]'' does this quite well, with [[James Bond]] tricking the guard into thinking he's escaped, clinging on to the ceiling, and then dropping down behind him once the guard opens the door.

* ''[[Trick R'r Treat]]'''s Sam is seen doing this in a [[Meaningful Background Event]].

* ''[[Cthulhu (Filmfilm)|Cthulhu]]'' "There were 'things', and they were everywhere! They were on the ground, they were on the ceiling, they were everywhere!"

* The [[Ceiling Cling]] scene in the ''[[Spider-Man]]'' movie. Peter Parker is in his own apartment with his mask off but otherwise in costume when friends and family come in and he has to hide to keep his [[Secret Identity]]. He clings to the ceiling as they are right under him, including Norman Osborn, his (unbeknownst to him at the time) [[Big Bad Friend]]. Just after they leave the room, a single drop of blood falls off a cut on his arm from the battle earlier. Norman hears the drop land. In the time it takes him to turn around, look down and look up, Peter has made it out the window. Norman looks out the window, but Peter is now clinging to the ledge under the window.

** This was parodied in [[Superhero Movie]], where instead of blood, The Dragonfly is doing his damndestdamnedest to hold back a [[Potty Emergency]].

* Done in ''[[Men in Black (Filmfilm)|''Men in Black]] II'']] when Jay, Kay, and the worms clinging to the ceiling of an elevator attempting to break into their headquarters that's under control by the [[Big Bad]] and to dodge from a gunner droid.

* Xander does this in ''[[XXX (Film)|xXx]]'', but it is sabotaged by the fact that doing so on a rock ceiling. He jumps on top of the baddies when he accidentally catches their attention by knocking off some dirt.

* In [[The Cat in the MovieHat (film)|the movie adaption of [[''The Cat in Thethe Hat'']], Cat avoids being found out by the kids' neighbor by flattening himself onto the ceiling.

* In ''[[Dracula: Dead and Loving It]]'', Dracula uses this to escape detection. A slamming door causes him to come loose.

* In ''[[Jack Andand Jill (2011 film)|Jack and Jill]]'', Jill's Craiglist date clings to the bathroom ceiling when she comes looking for him in order to ditch her on their date.

* Burt Reynolds in a Miami public restroom in [[Elmore Leonard|Elmore Leonard's]]'s ''[[Stick (film)|Stick]]''.

* In the "Flight of the War Witch" two part episode of [[Buck Rogers in Thethe 25th Century]], Buck, Princess Ardala and a Pendaran captive use this to get out of their cell. Well Buck and the third prisoner do, Princess Ardala simply hides under the bed.

* Monica pullpulls this in ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. If only she'd held on to her comic books...{{Context}}

* Naomi hides from Kate in the ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' episode "The Beginning of the End" by climbing a tree and hanging from a limb. Kate notices blood dripping on her from above.

* Richmond does this to avoid Jen in ''[[The IT Crowd (TV)|The IT Crowd]]''.

* Slightly unorthodox: used by a villain in the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy]]'' episode "Potential".{{Context}}

* Kwai Chang Caine does it in ''[[Kung Fu]]: The Legend Continues]]''.{{Context}}

* Sidney Bristow in an early episode of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]''. Unfortunately, she's holding herself up by the hot water pipes just as the [[Mook]] walks under her, so she has to very quietly move over to the other, cooler pipe. Being her, she pulls it off.

* Averted in an episode of ''[[Sliders]]'', where the titular group slides into a world still stuck in the Old West mode. Quinn and Rembrandt are framed for murder and jailed by the local crime boss and a corrupt sheriff, to be hanged the next day. They realize they could use their knowledge of westerns to trick the guards and escape. Quinn does a [[Ceiling Cling]], while Rembrandt calls for help. Unfortunately for them, the person who walks in is the above-mentioned crime boss, who is also a dimentionaldimensional traveler (and a Kromagg). He simply walks up to the cell doors without opening them and immediately looks up at Quinn, mentioning that [[Genre Savvy|Kromaggs have their own westerns]].

* The Silents from ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' love to [[http://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_lkhsf2X7dw1qb6e5oo1_1280.jpg?[[AWS Access Key Id]]AWSAccessKeyId=[[AKIAJ 6 IHWSU 3 BX 3 X 7 X 3 Q]]AKIAJ6IHWSU3BX3X7X3Q&Expires=1317694557&Signature=2R95<!-- 2Fmx8xvb2FROU0n4KwtWKx4qc%2Fmx8xvb%2FROU0n4KwtWKx4qc%3D roost on the ceiling.]] In ''packs.'' -->

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time]]'' has the infamous Wall Master, which drops from above and [[Nightmare Fuel|attempts to grab Link]]. If you look up as it's falling though, it disappears...

* ''[[Super Mario World (Videovideo Gamegame)|Super Mario World]]'' has the Spinies and Buzzy Beetles who are able to walk across the ceiling - they attempt to attack by dropping from above. One or two of the Bosses can do it too. It's not as common in 3D Mario games, presumably due to the already-stated fact that most people don't look up.

* In the commentary of ''[[Portal (Video Gameseries)|Portal]]'', the developers talk about how hard it is to get players to look up. While this is effective when ''hiding'' baddies in the ceiling, it's not quite as effective when trying to solves puzzles in twisted three dimensions. Of course ''[[Half-Life]]'' Veterans learned to always look up.

* And you thought Pokémon couldn't get away with this, did you? Say hello to the [[Mooks|deliciously-trained peons]] of ''[[Pokémon Colosseum|''Pokémon XD]]'']]'s Cipher syndicate. Many times a path looks clear, but a Peon will drop from the ceiling and engage you with no warning otherwise. There's one instance where a peon deserves respect.

{{quote| '''Michael:''' ''(boards an elevator at ONBS)''<br />

''(elevator goes to second floor)''<br />

'''Michael:''' ''(leaves elevator)''<br />

'''Cipher Peon:''' ''(leaves elevator behind Michael)''<br />

** Happens again in ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon|Pokemon Mystery Dungeon]] 2]]'', both during the story and in gameplay. In the story, [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|Chatot]] and the player are attacked by a group of particularly nasty bandits that drop from the ceiling. {{spoiler|Chatot recognizes this just in time and shields the player from attack, taking the brunt of the blow.}} In gameplay, there are the [[Difficulty Spike|Monster]] [[Scrappy Mechanic|Houses,]] which can be deadly.

* Spider Splicers from ''[[BioBioShock Shock(series)|BioShock]]'' do this with a distinct clinking sound.

* Catwoman does this in ''[[Batman: [[Arkham City]]'' in her last mission.

* In ''[[Chack'n Pop]]'', this is a basic move for Chack'n.

== Web[[Western Animation]] ==

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